This site is dedicated to those people who like to collect vintage technology, no matter what it is. If you collect old computers, handheld computer/PDAs, watches, robots, cell phones, calculators, game consoles, etc... This is a place to find out more about them.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

eWeek reports: "The Palo Alto Research Center started out on Sept. 23, 1970, as Xerox PARC, the R&D arm of Xerox. The idea was not to build a better document copier but to get into the overall 'business of breakthroughs,' as the institution describes itself. In 2002, PARC was incorporated as a wholly owned yet independent subsidiary company of Xerox. Currently, PARC has an impressive list of customers, with about 40 percent of its business from Xerox and 30 percent from government contracts. Its 2009 revenue was about $60 million. Many familiar inventions were dreamed up at PARC, including the graphical user interface for computers, laser printing, computer programming languages, Ethernet networking and VLSI (very large-scale integration) circuit design. The following slide show highlights some of those innovations."

eBay: "Here's an Early Minivac 601 Computer. Its made by Scientific Development Corporation, Watertown, Mass. It comes with Original Box, Instruction Manuals, Maintenance Manual and Many Red, Yellow, and Blue Jumper Wires. It looks used very little, Excellent condition. Manuals are copyright 1961, computer is marked Patent Applied For. Computer measures approx. 13 x 24' and about 6' high. I plugged it in, power light comes on, looks like it'll work."

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Computerworld reports: "It all began with a log entry from 1947 by Harvard University's Mark II technical team. The now-classic entry features a moth taped to the page, time-stamped 15:45, with the caption 'Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay' and the proud boast, 'First actual case of bug being found.'"

It's a really good article, and provides more information then I have seen anyone write on the subject. It's technical, but worth reading.